Ayrson Heráclito: Òye

ÒYE, a ioruba concept that means understanding, names the book by the artist Ayrson Heráclito, which, organized by the curator Marcelo Campos, brings together more than trhee decades of works by the Brazilian, from Bahia, artist: spanning photography, performance, installation, video and sculpture.

Ayrson Heráclito: Òye proposes a broad immersion in his work, which articulates body, memories, and spirituality. His practices investigate Afro-diasporic cosmologies and question modes of representing the sacred, reflecting on how to make visible that which, by nature, is also constructed in secrecy.

Structured around seven conceptual aces, like ÈKÓ, which is about education, ORÍKÌ, understood as a word of power, and ÒLÀJÚ, associated with an idea of pre-colonial African modernity, among others, the book proposes multiple reading paths and engagement with the artist’s work. In this journey, a production defined by continuous reinvention is seen, in works that unfold in multiple ways and come back around with time, like Transmutação da carne [Transmutation of the flesh], an emblematic project that spans performance, video, and photography at different points in its trajectory.

With writing by Marcelo Campos and by the artist himself, the publication reflects a work that inscribes in the body the marks of colonial history at the same time that it affirms the potency of Afro-Atlantic cultures. Ayrson Heráclito: Òye constructs itself, in this sense, as an invitation to the sensitive and critical experience of an artistic thought that articulates ancestry, matter, and image.

About the artist
Ayrson Heráclito was born in Macaúbas, Bahia, in 1968, and lives back and forth between Cachoeira and Salvador. A visual artist, curator, and professor at Federal University of Recôncavo Baiano (UFRB) he is a PhD in Communication and Semiotics by the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP), and develops a multidisciplinary practice that spans performance, photography, video, and installation, with a focus on the relationships between Afro-Brazilian culture, spirituality, and the African diaspora. His work has been widely circulated nationally and internationally, with participations in important exhibits such as the Venice Bienais of 2017 and 2026, the Bienal de São Paulo, in 2023 and the Bienal de Havana in 2025, besides showings in institutions like Museu de Arte do Rio, Pinacoteca de São Paulo and El Museo del Barrio, in New York. Amongst his recent individual exhibitions, highlights include Yorùbáiano, presented at the Museu de Arte do Rio and at Pinacoteca de São Paulo, and Oríkì Ìwòran, held at Portas Vilaseca, in Rio de Janeiro. In constant dialogue with art history and ancestral knowledge, Heráclito constructs an oeuvre that investigates the body as a symbolic and political territory, articulating matter, ritual, and memory.

About the organizer
Marcelo Campos is a curator, researcher, and professor, working as head curator of Museu de Arte do Rio. He has a PhD in Visual Arts from UFRJ and is a professor at UERJ, he develops researches focused on contemporary Brazilian art, with and emphasis on racial and cultural issues. Throughout his career, he has organized and curated prominent exhibition such as Yorùbáiano, Um Defeito de Cor [A Color Defect], and Funk: um grito de ousadia e liberdade [Funk: a bold call for liberty]. He is the author and editor of several books on Brazilian art, contributing to critical reflection and the circulation of contemporary artistic production.

Specifications
Title Ayrson Heráclito: Òye
Artist Ayrson Heráclito
Editor Marcelo Campos
Language Portuguese / English (bilingual)
Page count 176
Publisher Cobogó
ISBN 978-65-5691-194-6
Cover and design Bloco Gráfico
Format Hardcover
Size 23 x 28 cm
Year 2026